“That will give me time to buy one decent gown before he meets me, which is more than I have at the moment!”
As if Elmina’s words made her mother suddenly conscious of how young and untidy she looked at the moment, she said quickly,
“Please, George, don’t do anything hastily. I cannot think that Elmina is a suitable wife for the Marquis of Falcon! If you accept his proposal now, it might be difficult later to retract it.”
“Why should I want to do that?” the Earl asked aggressively. “The man has asked for my daughter’s hand in marriage and, as I apparently have only one daughter available, it has to be Elmina!”
“But, really – ” the Countess began only to be interrupted as the Earl rose from the table.
“I am going to write to Falcon, accepting his proposal. If you want the truth, I think it is damned insulting, but I am not such a fool as not to be aware of the advantages, when our estates merge with each other’s, and Falcon, by all accounts, is as rich as Croesus!”
He paused as he reached the door.
Then he looked back.
“If the man is such a fool as to buy a horse without first inspecting it,” he observed, “then he only gets what he deserves!”
He went from the breakfast room, slamming the door to behind him.
For a moment there was only silence.
Then Mirabel looked at Deirdre and said,
“Thank God Papa could not upset my engagement to Robert!”
“Or mine to Christopher!” Deirdre added. “I thought for one awful moment – ”
“So did I,” Mirabel agreed.
The Countess had risen as her husband left and now she followed him from the room.
The three girls were alone and Deirdre said, as she looked at her younger sister,
“You are very brave, Elmina! I think the Marquis is terrifying. I would rather marry the Devil himself!”
“That is an unkind thing to say,” Mirabel admonished. “At the same time, Elmina, I think you will find him very difficult to manage.”
“He has the most magnificent horses I have ever seen,” Elmina sighed dreamily, “and the inside of Falcon is so beautiful that it might be a Fairytale Palace.”
“The inside?” Mirabel and Deidre screamed together. “What do you mean – the inside? You have never been there!”
Elmina smiled.
“Yes, I have, many times!”
“But how? Why did you not tell us?”
“It was my secret. The Marquis’s Head Groom once asked the housekeeper to show me round after I had done him a favour.”
“You did the Marquis’s Head Groom a favour?” Mirabel repeated rather stupidly. “How can you have done anything like that?”
“It happened a few years ago,” Elmina said. “I was coming back from hunting when my horse cast a shoe. I realised because I had a long way to go home that it might make him lame unless I took him very very slowly, and it was growing dark. Then I remembered Papa having said the Marquis had a forge at Falcon, so I went there.”
“Surely that was rather pushy of you?” Mirabel remarked.
Elmina laughed.
“I was not intending to ask the Marquis himself if I could use his forge. I just rode Star into the yard, asked for the Head Groom and explained to him what had happened. He understood my plight immediately and sent for the blacksmith who lives in one of the houses near the stable.”
She paused for a moment before she went on,
“While he was dealing with Star, I talked to the man – Hogson is his name – and he told me that he was having trouble poulticing some of the Marquis’s horses, which had been ridden by a lady who had used her spurs unmercifully on them.”
Her two sisters were listening to Elmina with rapt attention.
“You will remember,” she went on, “that Papa has a special poultice that we have often used and have always been told it was invented by Grandmama who was such a fine horsewoman. I offered to ride over the next day and give it to him.”
“Why did you not tell us?”
Elmina smiled.
“As a matter of fact, I thought that Papa and Mama have always been so incensed at never being invited to Falcon that they would forbid me to keep my promise.”
“Go on,” Deirdre said. “What happened?”
“Hogson was very grateful, especially as the poultice was extremely effective. After he had used it, he sent a message to ask me if I would give him the recipe.”
“You gave him our secret recipe?” Mirabel asked. “How could you do that? You know Papa likes to think he is the only person who has it.”
“Of course I did not give it to him!” Elmina replied. “I merely made up a quantity of the poultice myself and took it over. I told him it was a secret formula, but, of course, any time he wanted it, I would be only too willing to make it for him.”
Mirabel and Deirdre gave a sigh that was one of envy.
“So that is how you got into Falcon!”
“Hogson was very grateful to me,” Elmina said, “and I knew he also wanted to make certain that he could have the poultice whenever the Marquis’s lady friends ill-treated his horses. I merely remarked in an innocent sort of way that I had heard that his Lordship had the most magnificent sporting pictures and Hogson asked if I would like to see them.”
“Well, all I can say,” Deirdre replied, “is that I think it was very mean of you not to have taken us with you!”
“I was well aware that Papa and Mama would have been furious at the idea of my wandering around Falcon and looking at all its glories, when they were not considered grand enough to be entertained by its owner.”
“But you did not see the Marquis?” Mirabel asked quickly.
“Oh, no! I only go there when he is away. Oh, girls, you should see the library! The Marquis has the most fantastic collection of books you could imagine. I only wish I could sit and read every one of them!”
“That is what you will be able to do if you marry him,” Deirdre remarked.
For a moment Elmina looked startled.
“Yes, of course! I had not thought of that!”
Then she gave a little cry and said,
“But I suppose really I am marrying the Marquis for his horses. I think I know every one of them and I cannot believe it would be possible to find a finer stable in the whole wide world!”
“How many times have you been to Falcon?” Mirabel asked curiously.
“Oh, lots and lots of times,” Elmina answered carelessly. “When you went off to London and Mama said I was to stay behind and work at my lessons, it was the one amusement I had. It was only fair that I should enjoy myself, while you were having such a marvellous time!”
Quite suddenly her two sisters burst into laughter.
“It cannot be true! But really, Elmina, you are mean to keep such excitements to yourself!”
“You must not tell Papa or Mama!” Elmina warned. “They would, as you know, be very shocked at my being so deceitful. But seeing Falcon is like stepping into another world and it so fascinating that I somehow don’t feel that it is real but only part of my dreams.”
“That is a very good excuse!” Mirabel said sarcastically. “And now you are going to marry the man of your dreams and I only hope that he will come up to your expectations. I must say in your shoes I would be terrified!”
“It’s not going to be easy, I realise that,” Elmina said in a quiet voice, “but there will be the horses and, of course, all those thousands of books!”
As if she did not wish her sisters to reply, Elmina turned as she finished speaking and left the room.
When she had gone, Mirabel looked at Deirdre for some time before she said,
“She is too young to know what she is doing.”
“Yes, I know,” Deirdre agreed, “but she will find out what he is like once she is married to him.”
“If you ask me, he will make her utterly and completely miserable,” Mirabel said, “and we ought to st
op it.”
“How?” Deirdre asked. “You know Papa in fact is thrilled at the idea of having the Marquis as his son-in-law and it will solve his financial problems, we can be quite certain of that.”
“I have realised that already,” Mirabel agreed, “but it is Elmina we have to think about.”
“I have a shrewd suspicion that Elmina is quite capable of looking after herself,” Deirdre replied. “How could she go into Falcon without telling us, when I have been yearning, ever since I was in the cradle, to have a look inside it.”
“I have always thought the Marquis quite repulsive!” Mirabel said. “In the hunting field he always puts on that supercilious air of a man condescending to associate with his inferiors.”
Deirdre smiled.
“You are only saying that because he did not admire you as everybody else has!”
“I did not wish him to admire me.”
Deirdre gave a sudden exclamation.
“Of course! I know now why he has proposed!”
“Why?” Mirabel asked.
“Because you are really very like Lady Carstairs! Not so beautiful, of course, but she has hair like yours and enormous blue eyes that seem to reflect the stars.”
“Are my eyes like that?” Mirabel asked curiously.
“You resemble our grandmother in the picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds and she was one of the greatest beauties of her time!”
“I know she was,” Mirabel said, “and I have often thought I might try to cultivate the same blissful expression.”
“It would only make you look half-witted,” Deirdre said with the frankness of a sister, “and you do very well as you are. You don’t really want to marry anybody except Robert?”
“No, of course not! He is wonderful,” Mirabel replied. “I nearly died when I thought for one awful moment that Papa was going to make me marry the Marquis!”
“It was worse for me because I had not told him about Christopher!”
“Christopher will be a Lord,” Mirabel said, “which is certainly a point in his favour, while I shall only be a Baronet’s wife.”
There was a pause before she added,
“But our little sister Elmina will be the Marchioness of Falcon and will walk into dinner in front of us!”
Quite suddenly Deirdre laughed.
“I don’t believe it is true!” she said. “How can Elmina possibly marry that stuck-up, conceited, overwhelming man? As a matter of fact, if you ask me, when he meets her he will back out!”
Mirabel gave a cry of horror.
“Of course he would not do that! It is inconceivable to think that a gentleman and a sportsman could behave in such a crooked manner. At the same time, if he supposes he is marrying me, I cannot help thinking that he is in for a shock that will do him a lot of good!”
“Then what we have to do is to try to help Elmina in every way we can,” Deirdre said. “She is quite right, she must have some decent gowns to wear instead of those cut-down old garments of ours which make her look like a rag-bag.”
There was a pause and then Mirabel said,
“Poor Elmina! My heart bleeds for her and, of course, we must do everything in our power to help her, but I am not at all certain what that is!”
“We shall just have to try,” Deirdre said.
*
Having left the breakfast room, Elmina ran as quickly as she could out to the stables.
Although she was strictly forbidden to come into breakfast in her riding habit, she spent so much time in the morning with the horses that she invariably disobeyed her mother’s instructions and wore her habit.
In fact, she wore nothing else from the moment she got up in the morning until it was time to change for dinner in the evening.
She had therefore only to pick up her riding hat, which was lying on a chair with her gloves and whip, as she went through the hall on her way to the stables.
First she saw one of the stable lads, rather a stupid boy, who just touched his forelock and went on washing down the cobblestones.
Then she went in through the first open door to find the groom she was seeking.
He was brushing down her own horse Star and, strangely enough, although he was working in an English stable, he was Chinese.
At least that was what everybody thought he was because his name was Chang, but actually, as Elmina knew, although nobody else was interested, his mother had been Javanese and his father Dutch.
It was his grandfather who had been a Chinaman and from him he had inherited his slit eyes and his dark hair.
The story of how he came to be working in the service of the Earl was as unusual as the circumstances of how Elmina had found her way to Falcon.
Last year after Mirabel had been in London for two months enjoying her first Season, Deirdre, who was not to make her debut until this April and Elmina, who was still in the schoolroom, had joined their parents at their London house.
Because Deirdre was to be allowed to attend some of the winter balls, she was permitted to dine downstairs when there was a dinner party in the house and drive in Rotten Row with her mother.
Elmina was, however, kept out of sight and either ate her meals alone or with some of the visiting teachers who gave her special lessons while she was in London.
She had no difficulty in persuading her mother that it was important for her to visit the museums and the sights of London accompanied by one of the elderly housemaids.
One day when she was returning home, insisting, because she needed the exercise, on walking, much to the dismay of her companion, they came upon a road sweeper at the crossing of a road.
Elmina noticed that he limped and because there was something about him that touched her heart she stopped and felt in her purse for a penny to give him.
As he took it, he said,
“Thank you, lady, that were a fine horse you were riding in the Park this morning!”
Elmina looked at him in surprise and while she thought his face looked strange she answered,
“I am glad you think so! My father has just bought him and I think when he is a little older he will be quite exceptional!”
“I’m sure of it, lady,” the man said, “but tell that young lad who rides him not to keep him on such tight rein. His mouth’s tender and, if you look close, you’ll see it’s sore!”
Elmina looked at him in surprise.
“How do you know this?” she asked.
“I look at all horses round here,” the man said simply.
“If you like horses so much, why are you sweeping the road?”
She knew as she asked it that it was a silly question.
“I was thrown and broke my leg,” the man replied. “But it were badly mended and now one leg’s shorter than other.”
He gave a sigh as he said,
“It doesn’t prevent me riding, but nobody wants crippled man in stable!”
There was so much feeling in his voice that Elmina said,
“My father’s Head Groom was telling me this morning that he is looking for another stable boy. Come with me and we will see if you could fill the post.”
There was a sudden light in the slanting eyes looking at her as the man said,
“May good fortune walk beside you all days of your life!”
She felt that he was translating from his own language into English and she was also well aware that he spoke in a far more educated manner than any Englishman in similar circumstances would have done.
Regardless of the muttered protests of the housemaid who chaperoned her, Elmina took the man, who told her his name was ‘Chang’, round to the mews.
The Earl’s Head Groom had for years found how useful Elmina was in helping him to look after the horses.
He was not prepared therefore to oppose her in anything that she suggested, but he felt slightly apprehensive in case he was doing the wrong thing.
He agreed, however, to give Chang a try and from that moment on Chang had made himself indispensable.
Only gradually had he related to Elmina some of his strange history.
He had travelled all over the world in one capacity or another, as a Courier to rich merchants going East and with gentlemen going on big game shoots.
He had served on a merchant ship and, as he said with a touch of pride in his voice, had ridden everything from a yak to an elephant!
When the Earl and Countess returned to the country, there was no question but that Chang should go with them.
At Warne Park, once the other servants became used to his strange appearance, he seemed to fit in in any capacity that was required of him.
If the Earl’s valet was ill, he took his place, if they were short of a footman, he helped wait at table and if anything unusual was wanted, Chang provided it.
Whatever time of the day or night, if anybody visited the stables Chang always seemed to be there.
Now, as Elmina went into the first stall and Star nuzzled up to her as she patted his neck, she said,
“Listen, Chang, I want your help.”
He grinned at her and his thin lips seemed to stretch across his face from ear to ear.
“You only to ask, my Lady!”
Elmina drew in her breath.
“I am to – m-marry the Marquis of Falcon.”
For a moment Chang’s hand holding the brush was still.
Then he said,
“His Lordship’s got fine horses!”
“Very fine! But I want you to tell me what you think of him as a man.”
She did not have to remind Chang that they had discussed the Marquis before when they had seen him in the hunting field.
They had also watched, although neither the Earl nor the Countess were aware of it, two steeplechases in the grounds of Falcon.
They were exciting races in which the Marquis’s younger friends had taken part, but the Earl had not been invited.
Elmina had thought then that no man could ride better than the Marquis or seem so much a part of his horse.
At the same time she had been aware that the contests were unfair in that the Marquis was not only the best rider but also had the best horses.
It was obvious that he would win, and she and Chang had lain flat on the grass on the rising ground above one point of the Racecourse, watching the competitors taking the fences beneath them.
A Very Unusual Wife Page 2